Links

Theatre Calgary’s artistic director Dennis Garnhum didn’t even try to contain his enthusiasm when we chatted about his current season, let alone his upcoming 2013/2014 season.

“We had packed houses and standing ovations for our first three shows (Next to Normal, Pride and Prejudice and Christmas Carol) but with The Kite Runner, audiences are literally leaping to their feet each night.

“It’s amazing. It’s so gratifying. Our audiences are telling us we’re in the middle of the best mix of plays we’ve ever done at TC and our next season has the potential to be even better,” promises Garnhum.

The 2013/2014 season will open in September with Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience, a comedy about a Korean convenience store that wowed Toronto audiences.

“Fifteen minutes into my seeing this show I knew we had to have it for Theatre Calgary and I didn’t just mean the play. I wanted the production. You cannot improve on perfection like this.

“Kim’s Convenience is another play the reflects the wonderful multicultural mix in Calgary and who of us hasn’t known one of those great little Asian corner convenience stores and that’s precisely what audience are going to see on our stage.”

TC’s second show is The Great Gatsby, a new stage adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic story about excess and bad behaviour among the American elite.

“We’ve had such incredible response to our stage adaptations of novels that I searched for another classic we could bring to the stage and this one is so sexy I had to get the Canadian premiere.”

This year's production of A Christmas Carol will be a true celebration because it marks Stephen Hair's 20th anniversary as Scrooge.

In February TC joins forces with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre for a new version of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara which will feature Canadian and American actors under Garnhum's direction.

"It has always been my goal to put Calgary on the world theatre map and a joint production like this is another major step in that direction," says Garnhum.

In March, TC will present the Canadian premiere of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, which turns the spotlight on Martin Luther King the night before he is assassinated, as his plan for a quiet evening is shattered by a feisty young maid who brings him coffee.

“This is a special play that goes to places few theatre pieces dare. Audiences are going to be left speechless.”

Garnhum’s next season will close with the family musical Mary Poppins.

“Mary Poppins is ending its run on Broadway this month, so the rights just became available,” he said. “Theatre Calgary should be doing shows of this magnitude and doing them as well as is possible.”

TC will also present Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in Prince’s Island Park and Garnhum is in final negotiations to bring in a world theatre piece for the 2014 High Performance Rodeo.

Theatre Calgary looking forward to another great season with a winning mix

Theatre Calgary’s artistic director Dennis Garnhum didn’t even try to contain his enthusiasm when we chatted about his current season, let alone his upcoming 2013/2014 season.

“We had packed houses and standing ovations for our first three shows (Next to Normal, Pride and Prejudice and Christmas Carol) but with The Kite Runner, audiences are literally leaping to their feet each night.

“It’s amazing. It’s so gratifying. Our audiences are telling us we’re in the middle of the best mix of plays we’ve ever done at TC and our next season has the potential to be even better,” promises Garnhum.

The 2013/2014 season will open in September with Ins Choi’s Kim’s Convenience, a comedy about a Korean convenience store that wowed Toronto audiences.